Pangram Launches New World's Best AI Detector, Expands to Images Backed by $9M From Menlo Ventures

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 29, 2026--

Pangram, the AI research lab known for its industry-leading 1 in 10,000 false positive rate, is announcing two new products. Pangram 4, its latest text detection model, offers major improvements in distinguishing AI-assisted writing and mixed human-AI content, plus greater robustness against AI humanizer programs. The company also released a research preview of an AI image detection model which is 99.5% accurate in internal benchmarks. Pangram 4 is available to all customers today, and Pangram AI Image Detector Research Preview is open to the public.

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The launches follow a $9M funding round led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from Haystack, ScOp Venture Capital, Script Capital, and Cadenza. Pangram is using this capital to push forward on two fronts: improving the accuracy of its core text detection, as well as expanding into new modalities, starting with images.

“Fully AI-generated content is everywhere now, and much of it is undisclosed,” said Max Spero, cofounder and CEO of Pangram. “Pangram exists to make authorship legible for publishers, teachers, journalists, and anyone who relies on the truthful and authentic communication of information.”

Yet, as familiarity with AI writing has grown, so has the demand for products that obfuscate the true origin of AI-generated writing. Pangram 4 is trained to counter these kinds of “humanizer” tools, accurately identifying AI-written text even after it has been passed through a tool that paraphrases, rewords, or otherwise modifies it in order to evade detection. The new model also delivers major accuracy gains on mixed human-AI writing, while still maintaining a 0.01% false positive rate.

Menlo Ventures partner Deedy Das frames the problem in terms of trust. "With LLMs, the cost of producing language collapses to zero, and the cost of trusting language goes to infinity," he said. "Pangram has emerged a clear #1 in quality and is trusted across Substack, Quora, and other platforms to power detection across their website."

Currently in research preview, Pangram’s AI Image Detector represents a new frontier for the company. “AI image detection is challenging because real and AI content is often blended, like in a photo of an AI-generated ad on a billboard,” said Bradley Emi, cofounder and CTO of Pangram. “That’s why we tried to cast as wide a net as possible: whether you're browsing social media or assessing photographic evidence in a courtroom, everyone deserves to know what's real.”

Pangram 4 is live today for all customers, and the research preview for Pangram’s AI Image Detector is open to the public for testing and feedback. As generative AI continues to proliferate across every format, Pangram plans to bring the same standard of reliability to detecting all modalities of AI-generated content. To try Pangram 4 or Pangram AI Image Detector Preview, visit www.pangram.com.

About Pangram

Pangram Labs is the technology leader in AI detection systems, surpassing other detection providers in accuracy and reliability. Pangram’s detection systems are used today by thousands of businesses. Founded by classmates at Stanford University, Pangram has been adopted by academic institutions, content moderators, journalists, media, and consumers concerned with transparency.

Pangram Image Detection research preview dashboard

The Trump administration cannot deny immigrants detained inside the United States a chance for release on bond, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

The 2-1 decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, with a judge appointed by President Donald Trump in the majority, deepened a split between federal appeals courts over the administration's mandatory detention policy.

Four other appeals courts have also rejected it, while the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans and Eighth Circuit in St. Louis have sided with the Trump administration.

The expanding circuit split increases the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually take up the issue. The administration last month asked the high court to consider it.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement it “strongly disagrees with the Ninth Circuit panel and is confident in its legal position regarding mandatory detention.”

“President Donald Trump and Secretary Mullin are now enforcing the law as it was actually written to keep America safe,” the statement said.

Under previous administrations, most noncitizens without a criminal record who were arrested inside the U.S. were allowed to seek a bond hearing while their immigration cases were pending. Mandatory detention was generally reserved for people arrested at the border.

Last July, immigration officials issued guidance expanding mandatory detention to immigrants in the U.S. interior. The move — part of the administration's mass deportation campaign — prompted a deluge of federal lawsuits by immigrants seeking release from custody.

Some federal judges who ordered bond hearings blasted the administration for repeatedly violating their orders.

The Trump administration has argued that Congress changed immigration law in 1996 to allow mandatory detention beyond the border, but previous administrations didn't enforce that provision.

Writing for the majority in Thursday's ruling, 9th U.S. Circuit Judge Daniel Bress rejected that argument.

“Although no reading of the complicated and interrelated textual provisions at issue here is without some shortcomings, the historical understanding of the statute is the better one,” Bress, a Trump appointee, wrote.

He was joined by Judge M. Margaret McKeown, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton.

Judge Carlos Bea, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, dissented, saying the text and purpose of an amendment Congress approved in 1996 support the Trump administration's reading.

FILE - A group of undocumented migrants is deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents across the McAllen–Hidalgo–Reynosa International Bridge in McAllen, Texas, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez, File)